Updated Royal Rumble Lineup Following WWE Raw; Special 2-Hour Kickoff Show
The Royal Rumble pay-per-view event will be taking place on Sunday, January 29 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Royal Rumble is arguably World Wrestling Entertainment’s second biggest show of the year and it will have a big feel to it as the Alamodome will likely be holding approximately 60,000 members of the WWE Universe.
Last night’s episode of Raw saw a few more additions to the Royal Rumble Match’s participant list, as well as a significant reduction in Seth Rollins. During last night’s Raw, Stephanie McMahon ordered Seth Rollins to go one-on-one with Sami Zayn. If Zayn won, he’d not only enter the Royal Rumble Match, but he would take Rollins’ place in it. Zayn ended up winning due to Rollins being distracted by Triple H’s entrance music playing.
The 21 participants that have been announced for the Royal Rumble Match are as follows:
The Undertaker
Goldberg
Brock Lesnar
Big Show
Dean Ambrose
The Miz
Sami Zayn
Dolph Ziggler
Big E
Xavier Woods
Kofi Kingston
Bray Wyatt
Randy Orton
Luke Harper
Braun Strowman
Chris Jericho
Baron Corbin
Cesaro
Sheamus
Big Cass
Rusev
The Royal Rumble Match always has 30 participants. However, they won’t announce all 30 since there are often participants that WWE likes to keep a surprise, such as old-timers, returning superstars or new superstars. A few more superstars will likely be added to the Royal Rumble Match after tonight’s edition of Smackdown Live.
I think Seth Rollins will be added back in the Royal Rumble Match eventually, whether that’s announced sometime this week through social media or the night of the Royal Rumble. I can’t see WWE leaving a superstar like Rollins off of one of their biggest shows of the year. I also have a feeling Triple H may be added to the Royal Rumble Match as well.
The rest of the card looks like this:
WWE World Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. John Cena
WWE Universal Championship: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns (No Disqualification Match where Chris Jericho will be suspended above the ring in a shark cage)
Raw Women’s Championship: Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley
Cruiserweight Championship: Rich Swann (c) vs. Neville
Kickoff Show – Raw Tag Team Championship: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (Two referees will be assigned to this match)
Kickoff Show – Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
The Kickoff Show will be two hours long, starting at 5:00 pm ET. In addition to the above two matches, the Kickoff Show will also feature WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels as a special guest panelist.
Picture used above is courtesy of WWE.com.